• By Jenny Rees
• BBC Wales wellness correspondent

16 minutes ago

Image supply, Dr Azia Sesay

Image caption,

Dr Azia Sesay aims to educate girls via social media use

Medical doctors are warning that embarrassment about naming components of the female anatomy is placing women’s wellness in jeopardy.

Dr Aziza Sesay stated the hyper-sexualisation of women’s bodies and anatomy “perpetuates the taboo, stigma and embarrassment”.

She stated it could lead to girls not finding the health-related enable they want.

There is also concern that young children who are taught euphemisms could be taken significantly less seriously if they are abused.

NHS GP Dr Sesay creates social media content material to enable educate girls and break down barriers about language, but says carrying out so can be difficult.

She stated: “I’ve seasoned censorship due to the fact as quickly as you spell the word vulva, vagina or clitoris clearly in your caption, be ready to not have substantially engagement due to the fact the algorithm automatically assumes that it is a thing inappropriate or pornographic.”

Even very simple line drawings of the female anatomy can be offered a “sensitivity cover” on-line – exactly where people today are warned the image could be “graphic or disturbing” ahead of they can view it.

Dr Sesay added: “Your ‘lady bits’ – your vulva, your vagina, your clitoris, your labia, your inner labia, your outer labia – is practically nothing to be ashamed of.

“It really is just element of your regular anatomy, just like your head, shoulders, knees, and toes.”

She stated a lot of women’s wellness circumstances are typically thought of benign – which means they are not life-threatening – but that she disliked the term as it minimised “how substantially it will impact someone’s life”.

Non-urgent care suffered following the pandemic, with rising numbers of people today waiting years to be observed.Given that summer season 2022 the image has enhanced, with just below eight,000 girls at the moment waiting a lot more than a year for their initial gynaecology appointment in Wales – even though there has also been a rise in paying for care.

Dr Sesay is one particular of a quantity of women’s wellness specialists who are due to seem at Cardiff’s Everywoman Festival on 24 June, exactly where subjects will variety from periods to menopause.

Dr Michelle Olver, an NHS consultant in sexual and reproductive wellness and menopause specialist who will also be speaking at the festival, stated it was not only individuals who can really feel awkward with language.

Image supply, Dr Azia Sesay

Image caption,

Dr Azia Sesay says embarrassment more than words for the female anatomy can pose a danger to women’s wellness

“One particular of the symptoms of the peri-menopause and the menopause is vaginal dryness, vaginal itching and reduction in libido, and they are all heavily intertwined,” stated Dr Olver, who operates for Aneurin Bevan wellness board in south east Wales.

“Ladies who have incredibly sore vaginas are not going to want to have sex.

“But there are research to recommend that healthcare experts come across it complicated to talk about sexual intercourse and specifically exactly where in the vagina it hurts.

“To be fairly graphic at times is really beneficial for the patient. So if we, as healthcare experts, are struggling to speak about sexual function it is going to be incredibly complicated for girls to come forward to talk about these items.”

She stated lot of her perform aimed to break down that stigma with healthcare experts.

‘It’s definitely essential for my daughters’

The festival is the brainchild of colorectal surgeon, Julie Cornish, who operates for Cardiff and Vale wellness board.

She stated “embarrassing” symptoms are all as well typically in no way discussed.

“It really is not uncommon to see individuals who waited ten, 15 years with symptoms,” she stated. “It really is got to the point exactly where they’ve had to cease operating, or their connection has broken down.

“People today retire early, they cease operating or cease socialising. And that delay typically indicates it is a lot more extreme. They could want surgery rather than very simple physiotherapy, dietary tricks or modifications that could’ve worked so very easily early on.”

Image supply, Julie Cornish

Image caption,

Julie Cornish has made a festival aimed at empowering girls to speak openly about their wellness

The festival is her way of opening up these conversations, even though she added that alongside self-assurance in raising difficulties was the want to create solutions.

“I believe that in specific groups in society there is undoubtedly been empowerment and a willingness to speak up and say ‘I’m not delighted with this, I want help’,” she stated.

“But there are undoubtedly communities inside Wales exactly where it is nonetheless an situation. It really is nonetheless a barrier.

“I am definitely passionate about the topic. It really is definitely essential for my daughters.

“Going forward I want them to be in a position to reside in a planet exactly where they can have the conversations. Exactly where they can have access to solutions and never accept a poor high quality of life.”